Promises
by Darkfire Galaxy
Summary: Set a little bit before the end of Season 2. Maddy is ill and when Rhydian turns up knowing that something is wrong, her parents realise their wolves may have already decided who they want to be with. What if the first kiss we saw wasn't their first? This didn't quite go as I expected it to, but it seemed to just write itself. Please review as I love hearing your feedback.


Wolfblood

Promises

 **Author's Note: This was originally called 'Sick Day' and was supposed to be about Maddy and Rhydian realising how they felt when Maddy becomes sick, but it seemed to write itself and ended up as this. I honestly can't tell you what happened since I don't know. I do have an idea in my head for a Halloween oneshot where Dan scares Rhydian senseless, but that's literally another story.**

Rhydian sat down in class that day with a splitting headache. That was the least of his problems though. He and Maddy usually texted each other to say good morning so they each knew the other was okay. It was something they'd taken to doing since Rhydian had joined her pack officially. They'd both confessed to feeling a weird sense of attachment to each other, so before they knew it, they'd started texting each other first thing in the morning. But that morning, he'd heard nothing from her. He'd texted her at least three times and go no response.

"Rhydian, did you hear me?" Rhydian looked up to see Mr Jefferies holding the register with a biro poised above Maddy's name.

"I'm Sorry, sir?"

"Do you know where Maddy is?" Jefferies repeated.

"No, I've not heard from her today, sir." Rhydian replied truthfully. Jefferies shrugged, proceeded to mark her absent and carried on with the register.

"Be honest, were you telling the truth or was that a lie because she's doing Wolfblood stuff?" Tom whispered, leaning over to Rhydian.

"No, it's true." Rhydian told him. "Have either of you heard anything?" Tom and Shannon just shook their heads.

Jefferies' lesson flew by about as quickly as a dead chicken. During that time, his headache just worsened. Something was different about this headache though. This pain was there, but also felt like it wasn't in his head. If he didn't know better, he'd say someone was psychically transmitting it across to him.

"Are you okay?" Shannon asked, looking at where Rhydian was sat with one hand on his head.

"Would it make sense if I said I had a headache that wasn't a headache?" he asked. Shannon and Tom shook their heads in unison.

"Do you need the nurse?" Tom asked.

"I'll be fine." Rhydian assured them. He knew it was a lie though. He knew there was only one person he needed right then.

When Jefferies' torturous lesson was finally over, Rhydian groaned. It was his least favourite subject next: Maths. Tom and Shannon went on ahead, but he asked them to tell the teacher he'd be a bit late. He decided to go to the nurse and beg for some paracetamol. He downed two dry before going up to the top floor again. Instead of heading to Maths like he knew he should, he went to the darkroom. He threw his bag on the ground and curled up on the sofa before pulling out his phone. The bright light of the screen hurt his eyes and didn't do much for his head, but he decided to have one last go at getting hold of Maddy. The phone rang for around a minute before he finally hung up. Rhydian knew that he couldn't wait until the end of the day. He had to see if Maddy was okay for himself before the stress killed him. He knew just the time to slip out as well. Curling up tighter, he closed his eyes and let thoughts of his Alpha take him off to sleep.

Line Break!

Rhydian woke up to the sound of the bell signalling break. With superhuman effort, he hauled himself up and staggered to the door just as the others ran through the hallway. He waited for the crowd to subside before heading to the ground floor. He was just about to step onto the playground when he was stopped by Mr Jefferies.

"Hello, Rhydian. Would you care to explain why you were marked absent for Miss Terry's Maths lesson?" he asked.

"I had a bit of a headache, so I went to the nurse. She must have forgotten to mark me in when I arrived." Rhydian lied.

"Okay, I'll mark it down." Jefferies said. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he suddenly had to run off to stop Kay and Kara from ripping each other's throats out while screaming about nail polish. Thankful for the interruption, Rhydian ran to the edge of the playground and ducked through the rip in the wire mesh of the fence before getting down on all fours and transforming. In a matter of seconds, a wolf stood where he once did. The pain in his head rendered him just as shaky on four legs as he had been on two, but he was determined not to let that stop him. He took off at a blistering pace through the moors, not even caring about who saw him or how much noise he made. He was surprised at how long he was able to run for before the pain in his head became too great and he was sent sprawling.

Transforming back, Rhydian looked around to see the peak of the Smith's roof sticking over the tree line. He picked himself up, making his way through the edge of the moors before reaching the fence. He followed it round to the front garden before jumping it and knocking on the door. It was answered a few seconds later by a very concerned Emma.

"Rhydian, why are you not in school? Is everything okay, pet?" she asked.

"No, my head hurts and I've just got this weird feeling that…"

"Just breathe, Rhydian." Emma said as Dan joined her at the door. "What kind of feeling?"

"Is Maddy okay?" Rhydian asked. Instantly, Emma and Dan shared a look.

"What makes you think she wouldn't be?" Emma asked nervously.

"Mrs Smith, please don't play dumb with me. I just know something's wrong. I don't know how, but I know; and that look you and Mr Smith just shared proves it." Emma and Dan looked at each other again before nodding.

"I think you'd best come upstairs." Dan said before leading Rhydian into the house. They went up the stairs to Maddy's room before Dan carefully opened it. Inside, Maddy lay in her bed, sweat pouring off her. She seemed to be having trouble breathing, and as Rhydian got closer he also noticed a thermometer by her bedside that was showing a very high reading. "I'll leave you two for a minute." Dan said. "If she wakes up, she's due two tablets from the case beside her bed." Rhydian nodded and Dan gently closed the door. Rhydian tentatively reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Maddy's face. Her eyes instantly fluttered open and she rolled over to face him.

"Rhydian, is that you?" she murmured drowsily.

"How are you feeling?" Rhydian asked.

"How does it look like I'm feeling?" Maddy growled before rolling over, grabbing the sheet of tablets and taking two with the water by the bed. Almost instantly, she erupted into a coughing fit.

"That's why you should never drink lying down." Rhydian said as she tried to sit a bit more upright. He reached round and patted Maddy's back as she coughed to the point where he thought she would cough her lungs up. Eventually, she stopped and laid back. Rhydian went to move his hand off her back, but she growled in protest.

"Can you stay?" she asked. "You're really comfy." Without another word, Rhydian kicked his shoes off and cuddled in next to Maddy. "Don't ever leave me, Rhydian." With that, Maddy drifted off to sleep in his arms.

"I promise, I'll never leave you." Rhydian muttered as he laid his head on the pillows next to hers and drifted off next to her, feeling oddly contented as he did so.

Emma and Dan stuck their heads into the room after noticing the silence, only to find their cub nestled in Rhydian's arms. She'd rolled over and buried her head in his chest. Their arms were locked around each other and their faces shared a serene and peaceful expression. The adults slowly slid the door shut before looking knowingly at each other.

"You know I'm right." Dan said.

"I've never seen a bond this strong before." Emma muttered.

"I hope Rhydian enjoys crawling to A&E and explaining how he was injured with very sharp workshop tools." Dan growled.

"Dan, they're probably not even aware of what's going on right now!" Emma was shocked at her husband's sudden outburst. "I think all we need to do is get to know Rhydian a bit better quite soon so that he doesn't feel nervous when things inevitably progress."

"I don't want to get to know him. I want to get to kill him!" Dan's eyes were burning yellow with fury. He clearly wasn't ready to face the fact that his daughter was in her teenage years.

"I'm sure spending some time getting to know him will get you to see the light." Emma said as they headed downstairs.

"Emma, she's already had her heart broken once by him. If something happens, she'll be left heartbroken and we'll be left picking up the pieces! Do you want that for our daughter?"

"Dan, as misunderstood and repressed as Rhydian has been, he's smart. When the time comes, he'll know what she means to us and what she means to him as well. Everything's going to be fine. The only thing we shouldn't do is say anything until it becomes official." Emma knew she was sticking her neck out here. It was true that they didn't know if Rhydian would stay this time and she definitely couldn't predict the future. But personally, she liked him. Compared to all the other Wolfbloods out there, Maddy could have done worse for herself. Technically though, Maddy hadn't picked. She knew full well that it was always the wolves that chose their mates. The human side of a Wolfblood just followed suit afterwards. Emma could see though, their wolves had made the choice already. That much was beyond all doubt.

Line Break!

Maddy woke up to the sound of her door opening as Emma entered the room. She was carrying the biggest tray they had with two plates, a bowl and a bottle of ketchup on it. She nudged Rhydian in the ribs, causing him to jolt awake.

"Eat up, cubs. Rhydian, you have bacon sandwiches here and I brought ketchup as well in case you wanted it." Emma handed Rhydian the plate and after quickly squirting ketchup onto the bacon, he tucked in like his life depended on it. "As for you, Maddy, I didn't know if you were ready for much solid food yet, so you've got tomato soup with three rashers of bacon on the side." Emma handed Maddy the tray. Maddy thanked her before starting to eat. Suddenly, the digital clock on her bedside table caught her eye.

"Mum, why is my clock two days fast?" Maddy asked. Emma paused for a moment before deciding to just break the news.

"It's not actually fast, Maddy. You and Rhydian have been asleep for two days."

"That's not possible!" Maddy looked as though she was about to start hyperventilating. "How can you sleep for two days?"

"It's nothing to really worry about, Maddy." Emma told her. "If it's a Wolfblood's first time sleeping alongside a new pack member and they're of the opposing genders, they can be drawn into a deep sleep."

"Won't the Vaughns question my being gone for so long?" Rhydian worried.

"It's okay, pet. We told them you'd shown up here really ill and that it'd be easier to keep you here since we already had Maddy ill. They were grudging but they accepted it." What Emma was saying sounded airtight, but Rhydian couldn't help but notice a scent radiating from her. It was a blue and green scent with a hint of orange mixed in. Instantly, he recognised the smell and realised that his wolf seemed to be stronger. He'd never associated smells with colours before, but he could immediately tell Emma was nervous. But what was she nervous of?

"Are you okay? You seem a bit nervous." Rhydian prodded.

"It's fine, pet. It's just that when your cub sleeps for so much longer than normal, a tiny part of you does question whether they're going to wake up at all. No one has ever failed to wake up again, but there's just that part of you that questions. You'll understand when you have cubs of your own in the future."

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a cub?" Maddy raged. Rhydian could still smell the nervousness radiating off Emma. Was she lying about something? Rhydian decided to let it go for now, but he would definitely try and find out what was wrong with her later.

"Oh and Rhydian, I would be slightly careful around Dan for the next few days. Fathers are always protective of their cubs and I think this was a bit of a shock for him."

"I'm not a cub!" Maddy shouted.

"Yeah, she's definitely starting to feel better." Rhydian said as he finished his last sandwich.

"I don't think I can eat the last of this." Maddy said as she handed the bowl back still half full.

"I'll put some cling film over it so I can re-heat it when you want it later." Emma said as she reloaded the tray and went to leave. "You haven't missed any school, Rhydian. It was Friday when you arrived, so you've just missed the weekend."

"So, I've slept through my two day break away from Jefferies' bland history lessons and the three Ks trying to flirt with me?" As Rhydian said this, he felt Maddy's fingers entwine with his.

"That's about the size of it." Emma replied. "The good news is that you're still technically in the recovery period now that you're awake, so you're legally able to claim an extra day off to get your full forty-eight hours to fully recoup. I'll make a call to Mrs Vaughn and tell her you still feel a bit rough. She'll have no choice but to keep you off." Emma closed the door, leaving Rhydian and Maddy alone.

"I thought parents wanted kids in school as much as possible." Rhydian muttered. "Why is she trying to get me extra time off?"

"She just doesn't think it's fair that you haven't had a weekend." Maddy told him. "Don't complain, you're getting extra time off school." Rhydian rolled over as they laid themselves back so that their foreheads were leaning against each other. Maddy looped one arm over him and pulled him closer, gripping the back of his head with the other hand. What Rhydian didn't expect was for her to lean in. Suddenly, their lips met. They pulled back a few seconds later, not able to believe what just happened.

"Sorry." Rhydian mumbled sheepishly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Maddy replied as she went to kiss him again. As their mouths collided again, they could both feel fireworks explode inside them as it suddenly became a rush to get as close as possible.

"I love you." The words were out of Rhydian's mouth before he realised what he was saying.

"I love you too." Maddy wrapped her arms around him and held on as her heart went at ninety to the dozen at the rush of emotion she felt from confessing her newfound feelings. They hadn't realised until they said it to each other, but it was true. They truly loved each other more than they could put into words. Images danced in their heads like a slideshow of all they'd been through together. They'd transformed on Lindisfarne, broken Rhydian out of jail, been captured by Kyle. Plus, they'd faced off against Alric on multiple occasions and stopped Doctor Whitewood from taking the bones of Maddy's great, great, great uncle William and running tests on him. They realised that their wolves had picked long ago.

"So, what do we do now?" Rhydian asked.

"We'll figure it out." Maddy replied. "I don't know if my Dad's going to be too enamoured, so we'd best not say anything until we make it official."

"What about Shannon and Tom?" Rhydian asked.

"No, if we told them it would only take one mistake on their part for my parents to find out." Maddy said.

"Are you sure Maddy?" Rhydian asked. "If Tom and Shannon find out we didn't tell them, they're going to be quite angry."

"They'll understand once we explain it to them." Maddy assured him as she pulled herself closer and gently kissed him again.

"I hope you're right." Rhydian said. "Still, we've kept secrets from them before, but this feels like it tops the lot."

"That's saying something considering we had to conceal the fact that we aren't even the same species at one point." Maddy commented. "I hated doing that."

"How about we drop them some hints?" Rhydian suggested.

"You mean deliberately get a bit closer when they're around to see how long it takes them to notice?" Maddy asked.

"I bet you it takes them a while." Rhydian muttered as he and Maddy both burst out laughing. "Are you feeling a bit better than two days ago?" he asked.

"I'm feeling slightly better, but it's hardly a vast improvement." Maddy flopped back against her bed. Rhydian shuffled closer and she nuzzled into the crook of his neck. They pulled each other closer, feeling their combined warmth cover them like a blanket.

Line Break!

Emma walked downstairs and set the tray on the kitchen counter before noticing that Dan had the laptop open and was typing something up. Sneaking over, Emma peered over Dan's shoulder and glared at the screen.

"Daniel Smith, please tell me that video is not called 'How to Kill Your Daughter's Boyfriend With no Legal Issues'!"

"No, it's not." Dan lied, shutting the laptop abruptly.

"Dan, she's going to grow up sooner or later. Look how my father was with you. Rhydian grew up in foster care and had to find out about this all on his own. The last thing he needs is an overprotective parent jumping to conclusions."

"Oh, so you think I'm overprotective now?"

"I know you are!" Emma snapped. "You were always saying how overprotective my father was of me, and now you're doing the exact same thing to Maddy. Just admit that it's easier than you thought and let her grow up!"

"Maybe you're right." Dan said. "But this seems to be one of those cases where you learn to understand once you're older. Now that I'm a parent myself, I know what he was afraid of. I don't want to become a grandparent yet and I don't want to risk Maddy being left heartbroken again. I'm still too young and handsome for all that."

"Dan, that's not going to happen." Emma assured him. "They don't even know how strongly they're paired yet. Believe it or not, this is the easy part of the job. We've just got to sit back and let it all run its course."

"I really hope you're right, Emma." Dan said. "I really hope this doesn't end in tears."

Epilogue

Two Months Later

Rhydian and Maddy walked hand in hand over one of the grassy plains, dreading what was about to happen. Behind them walked her parents. Tom and Shannon were also there off to Maddy's left. No one had said anything so far, for fear that if they tried to talk, they would just break down and sob. Eventually though, Maddy knew she couldn't put it off any longer. She had to face the one thing she hated more than the three Ks and Jimi. Her heart breaking, she let go of Rhydian's hand and turned to face him, Tom and Shannon.

"This is as far as you go." Tom and Shannon nodded in understanding. "Doctor Whitewood's going to come for you next. She's going to have questions."

"We'll defend you." Tom said.

"No; just say you were conned too." Maddy told him. "Say you thought that we kept wolves." Shannon shook her head, fighting back tears.

"That's a betrayal, Maddy!"

"It'll keep you safe… safer… and we'll be safer." Maddy said. "Promise me you'll do that, all of you." Reluctantly, everyone nodded. After a heartfelt goodbye to Tom and Shannon, there was only Rhydian left. This was what Maddy had been dreading the most. She honestly didn't know what to say to him.

"Some date this turned out to be!" he remarked in a desperate attempt to dispel the rush of emotions they were both feeling. Both of them managed a slight giggle before Maddy looked into his eyes and said something she'd not been able to say again since the first time they'd revealed it to each other.

"I love you." Her voice was little more than a saddened whisper, but Rhydian heard her plain as day. Without a word, he reached down and kissed her. Instantly, they felt that familiar feeling as though fireworks were going off inside them. As much as they wanted more, they knew they had to drag themselves apart. If they started to get too close now, they'd never be able to stop themselves. If that happened, she'd either not be able to leave or he'd try to follow her. If either one of those things happened, it would be bad.

"I love you too." Rhydian said. Maddy's heart threatened to burst as he wrapped her in one of those hugs she loved. "Someday when I'm older and no one cares what I do, I'm going to find you!" he continued. Maddy stepped back from him and tried to look as determined as possible.

"We'll find each other." With that, Maddy turned and ran over to her parents. As they walked to the base of the hill they currently stood on, Maddy couldn't stop thinking about their true first kiss. That little secret they shared about how they really felt and how they'd probably felt for a long time beforehand. There was one thing she knew for certain though: Rhydian had never broken a promise to her and she'd never broken a promise to him. He'd promised to find her, and she'd promised they'd find each other. Both of them were set to keep those promises.


End file.
